There are continued needs for novel surfactants having improved surfactant characteristics. Desirable improvements to surfactants include characteristics affecting solubilization, gel formation, foam production and/or cloud points. In particular, the ability to employ surfactants having low surface tensions at low use levels and/or the ability to control foam characteristics of a surfactant have significant industrial importance. Extensive discussions of the fundamental properties and practical application of surfactants can be found in Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Fourth Edition, Volume 23, pp. 477-541, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Glycerin ethers represent a new class of emerging solvents, including glycerin-derived short-chain aliphatic ether or salts thereof. Various such solvents are disclosed for example in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0309849, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. These solvents can be used according to the invention to arrive at the novel solfactant class described herein. In particular, the glycerin ethers are particularly well suited for ethoxylation to arrive at the novel solfactants of the present invention.
Antimicrobial sanitizing compositions are known in the art for cleaning and sanitizing a variety of surfaces, including hard surfaces. Antimicrobial sanitizing compositions are used, for example, in the health care industry, hospitality industry, food service industry, food and beverage processing industry, and other commercial and/or institutional applications, along with those of individual consumers. The widespread use of antimicrobial sanitizing compositions indicates the importance consumers place on controlling bacteria and other microorganism populations.
Several different classes of antimicrobial sanitizing agents are used in commercially-available compositions. These include active ingredients selected from the following classes: phenolic compounds, carbanalide compounds, lower alcohols, surface active agents halogens, and carboxylic acids. Examples of specific antimicrobial agents include PCMX (para-chlorometa xylenol), Triclosan, Triclocarban, benzyl alcohol, quaternary ammonium compounds, iodine and iodine complexes and biguanides (e.g., chlorhexidine digluconate). Each of these classes has their own unique advantages and challenges.
Although there are myriad of sanitizing compositions available, there remains a need for improved cleaning performance of sanitizing formulations, such as the ability to employed reduced concentrations of sanitizing agents and/or reduced exposure time required for product performance (e.g. time a user is required to wait before cleaning a surface being contacted with the sanitizing composition). Many conventional sanitizing formulations employing quaternary ammonium compounds do not include certain classes of surfactants, such as alcohol ethoxylates, in the formulations due to diminished performance observed, requiring increased sanitizing concentrations of the quaternary ammonium compound and/or increased exposure time for efficacy. Thus, a need exists for additional efficacious antimicrobial sanitizing formulations containing quaternary ammonium compounds. The present invention is directed to such sanitizing compositions.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop sanitizing compositions comprising quaternary ammonium compounds in combination with a novel class of compounds referred to as “solfactants” having improved surfactant and solvent characteristics to either replace or use in combination with alcohol ethoxylates, alkoxylates, and/or propoxylates in various formulations.
A further object of the invention is to provide methods of cleaning and sanitizing employing compositions comprising the glycerin ether ethoxylate solfactants and sanitizing quaternary ammonium compounds.
The above-mentioned disadvantages of current antimicrobial sanitizing compositions are addressed by embodiments of the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification. The following summary is made by way of example and not by way of limitation. It is merely provided to aid the reader in understanding some of the aspects of the invention. Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.